Matthew Abram Groening (pronounced /-?reen-?/ GRAY-ning) (born February 15, 1954 in Portland, Oregon) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter and producer, best known as the creator of The Simpsons, Futurama and Life in Hell. Groening distributed Life in Hell in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked. He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers